Costumes Galore

it is nearly 8:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i just completed making a denim cowboy vest for my 2 year old grandson. i bought a cheap felt cowboy hat and a paisley neckerchief to complete the look. i cut up an old cowboy style shirt of my mom's and sewed on the fringes to his jeans and a bit on to the vest. i bought a small gun sans caps, i have a gun holder from last year when i dressed up my 24 year old married boy.

a cowboy costume without the hat cost around 80 shekels. the vest alone, some type of vinyl plastic, was about 45 shekels. i spent a total of 45 shekels. the sum includes a flannel western shirt, cowboy hat, gun, kerchief and denim dress. yes, i bought a denim smock dress in a second hand store for 10 shekels. it was actually brand new. i cut it down to make a vest. i added a bit of white fringe and some striped fur material. i sewed on two tin sheriff stars left over from last year. the bottom of the dress had a denim fringe. i resowed the fringe to the bottom of the vest and voila! an original cowboy costume.

i spent 48 shekels to make a costume for the baby. a fairy outfit for a newborn was about 139 shekels. a flower costume one piece stetchie, was about 70 shekels. i bought a costume dress for 29 shekels and a couple of hairbands. i added flowers from one hairband to the dress and used the other as a headress.

i bought a black ninja karate outfit for only 10 shekels and turned it into a chassidic frock for my nephew. i bought a costume streimel with peyot for 20 shekels. so another costume for only 30 shekels. i had a clown outfit in the closet. i bought a straw hat for 3 shekels and some shiny heart appliques for 5 shekels and we had one more costume for less than 10 shekels.

i don't know if i suddenly got cheap this year or if i simply, didn't want to support the outlandish prices. i really do enjoy finding inexpensive clothing and turning them into costumes. i like making one of a kind custom costumes. it's really a kick for me. now that the kids' costumes are out of the way, i have another few weeks to decide what i'm going to dress up as. i'm leaning towards chassid. i might go hawaiin. i have a robe, and a couple of lais. i saw these very funny plastic feet slippers. it might be a hoot. we shall see closer to the time.

in the meantime, it's back to the kitchen to check on the chicken soup that i'm making for my 25 year old baby who's got the flu. some things never change.